2017.10.27 Football: Tuscarora @ John Champe

Aldie, VA (October 27, 2017) – With less than thirty seconds to play, the John Champe Knights had the ball with a chance to tie the score. Quarterback Cam Parson faded back to pass, but his throw was batted into the air by a Tuscarora Husky lineman and then caught by another for an interception. Two plays later, Tuscarora was in the end zone having suddenly expanded their lead to fourteen points.

And that was just the ending to the first half. Wait until you hear about the second.

The Knights owned the third quarter orchestrating two long drives. The first one led to a turnover on downs inside the Tuscarora five-yeard line, but the second one resulted in a touchdown from Carl Garmon to cut the lead to 21-14.

The Huskies got it together to open the fourth quarter, and a touchdown pass to Caleb Coombs expanded the lead to what then seemed like an insurmountable margin.

Down by fourteen again, Garmon put his team on his back and refused to lose. His second touchdown narrowed the score to 28-21, and his third touchdown with just seventeen seconds remaining brought the Knights within a single point.

Daring to be great, head coach Jason Dawson went for two--and it paid off big time. A toss to Garmon and a quick darting run into the end zone, and it looked like the Knights had suddenly and unexpectedly earned a stunning win.

A booming kickoff had the Huskies inside their own ten yard line with virtually no time remaining. The Champe defense went into prevent and stopped the first attempt by the Tuscarora offense, but there was time for one more play. Quarterback Justin Allen stepped back, paused long enough for his receivers to get down the field, and threw it as far as he could.

And there was Adam Thorne, who pulled the ball in, maintained his balance amidst a gaggle of teammates and opponents, and amazingly scampered into the end zone for the winning score.

The crazy noise on the Champe sidelines and stands just moments before was suddenly replaced by stunned silence. All of the joy had been sucked away and transferred quickly over to the visitors.

The twitterverse quickly called it the "miracle in Aldie." And surely it was.

Final score: Tuscarora 34 - John Champe 29.

Players that could be clearly identified by jersey number are listed in the links below. Additional photos of these and other players may be found by reviewing the full gallery.